Let's pray for them

Although our gallant U-17 lost to Congo in their opener yesterday, we should not give up hope.

Losing your first match does not mean that everything is lost.

In our view, what the team needs most now is our prayers, back home here.

Thus, as we need the team to try to get better, come their next match, we equally call on all and sundry to continue to pray for them.

Let's keep praying for them in our mosques and churches. The more we pray for them, the luckier they become.

The Gambian sporting fraternity needs to keep faith in the team, even though they started with a disappointing 3-nil defeat in the hands of Congo.

Yet, another side to this issue is the fact that Gambians football enthusiasts must learn to lose with grace.

Listening to some of the commentary of the GRTS team with the boys, you get the impression that the players in the field are not displaying the commitment and zeal to do well, and so on.

But certainly, that cannot be true, because they have not struggled to qualify for the finals in Rwanda, just to get there, and then start being lacklustre.

Definitely, we all agree that the players and the technical side should know that they are in Rwanda for business, and should make sure that we will book the ticket to the next stage of the competition.

The point, though, is that Gambians have a tendency to show a lack of realism, as manifested in their wanting to be winning always, and all the time, ignoring the truth that this is not what happens in real life. Certainly, this is not so in the world of sports.

Perhaps, we need to be reminded that this is competitive sports, at the international level.

In fact, if we go by past performance in Nigeria, Peru and other outings, then perhaps that would serve as reminders what could happen with our U-17 football team.

Indeed, we must accept that in the real world, today you win, tomorrow you lose; in other words, you win some, you lose some, but you cannot be winning all the time!

See what happened at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, during which one must recall how the mighty were fallen!

In any case, we believe that losing the opening match does not mean that the team will not make it.

With our prayers, anything is possible!

"Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck."

Don Shula